diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3f1551212..766ada3a7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 /spec/fixtures/modules/*
 /tmp/
 /vendor/
+/.vendor/
 /convert_report.txt
 /update_report.txt
 .DS_Store
diff --git a/lib/puppet/functions/stdlib/parsehocon.rb b/lib/puppet/functions/stdlib/parsehocon.rb
index 159028f99..84d48ef12 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/functions/stdlib/parsehocon.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/functions/stdlib/parsehocon.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 #   This function accepts HOCON as a string and converts it into the correct
 #   Puppet structure
 #
+# @param hocon_string can be an actual string of data or a path to a Hocon config file
+#
+# @param default content that will be returned in case the string isn't parseable
+#
 # @example How to parse hocon
 #   $data = stdlib::parsehocon("{any valid hocon: string}")
 #
@@ -17,16 +21,18 @@
   end
 
   def parsehocon(hocon_string, default = :no_default_provided)
-    require 'hocon/config_factory'
-
-    begin
+    if File.exist? hocon_string
+      require 'hocon'
+      Hocon.load(hocon_string)
+    else
+      require 'hocon/config_factory'
       data = Hocon::ConfigFactory.parse_string(hocon_string)
       data.resolve.root.unwrapped
-    rescue Hocon::ConfigError::ConfigParseError => e
-      Puppet.debug("Parsing hocon failed with error: #{e.message}")
-      raise e if default == :no_default_provided
-
-      default
     end
+  rescue Hocon::ConfigError::ConfigParseError => e
+    Puppet.debug("Parsing hocon failed with error: #{e.message}")
+    raise e if default == :no_default_provided
+
+    default
   end
 end